Olympic Bailouts for Russian Moguls

By

Lukas I. Alpert

April 29, 2013 9:48 a.m. ET

MOSCOW—Russia's largest mining company has agreed to bail out its two main shareholders' struggling Olympic projects after the government didn't respond to a call for help, raising concerns about the tycoons using the firm's resources for their own benefit in an event where the total cost has soared to a record $50 billion.

The company, Norilsk Nickel, agreed at its board meeting last week to give a loan of $140 million to a company owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska and to swap $196 million of debt owed by one of tycoon...